Keats in Italy

He missed Brawne desperately and wished he hadn’t travelled so far away from her. Back at Wentworth Place, Charles Brown wrote to Severn, “Miss Brawne…looks more sad every day.” (Richardson, Fanny Brawne, 81).

Keats died on February 23, 1821, and was buried with a number of unopened letters from Brawne (it had pained him too much to read them). After Keats’s death, Brawne went into mourning as if she had been widowed: she cut her hair, dressed in black, and wore a locket containing Keats’s hair, along with the ring he had given her.